Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible

by E. Randolph Richards

Luke 14:26, Jesus says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” Matthew records the saying differently: “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me

is not worthy of me” (Mt 10:37). These two statements don’t mean the same thing in English. In English, to hate is not the same as to love one thing less than something else. I love my cat less than I love my wife, but that doesn’t mean that I hate my cat. So it may seem to us that we have two different sayings of Jesus. Not necessarily. One likely explanation is that

Luke translated (from Aramaic into Greek) what Jesus said and that Matthew tran...

Vote Counters!” Really? Death? Well, that was probably a literal translation. We suspect what they meant was, “We’re really upset!”

This problem—that language doesn’t always say what is meant—is due in part to the way the English language works.

English is a subject-verb language; it is actor- and action-oriented. We prefe...

subject and a clear predicate, and we like it best when the verb is in the active voice. It is difficult to construct a meaningful sentence in English without a subject. Even when we describe the weather (“It is raining”), we supply a subject (“it”). Other languages can manage withou...

More significant than mere grammar, many languages are content with no real subject or actor in a sentence. One day as the sun broke out after the afternoon rains, I (Randy) looked out into the front yard of our house in Indonesia and saw that our young son’s tricycle was broken. We had b...

exasperated. I asked Jacob’s Indonesian friends what happened. They replied, “The tricycle is broken”—a perfectly good Indonesian sentence. I asked, “Who broke the tricycle?” The question caught them by surprise. Indonesian isn’t set up to express that kind of caus...

But English cries out for a subject. In sentences without a stated subject, one is always implied (“[You] Bring me that stapler”). Because English “needs” a subject, we tend to provide one. This is why, as we pointed out above, “Blessed are the peacemakers” turns in our minds to “God bless...

Yet biblical writers often liked the passive voice. “Son, your sins are forgiven” (Mk

Western scholars call this the “divine passive,” in which the agent/subject (God) is implied. “All things work together for our good” is probably the better way to translate Romans 8:28. Yet we commonly read it as “God works all things together for our good.” Sometimes we assign agency (and thus motives) where the biblical text is actually silent.

also imply that direct action is required on our part when the ...

A frequent translation of John 14:1 reads, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” The English suggests that I need to take action over my heart. Yet, in John’s text, Jesus is giving the command to the hearts of his disciples to stop bei...

perhaps Jesus understood that we humans have less control of our hearts ...

I will not look with approval on anything that is vile. (Ps 101:2-3)

“though the elect and the reprobate are indiscriminately exposed to similar evils, there is yet a great difference; for

God trains up the faithful by afflictions, and thereby promotes their salvation.”[9]

In other words, this is not a promise that God will protect us from harm or heartache. Rather, it ...

inevitable harm and heartache that come with being human, God can tra...

First, beware of thinking of the Bible in terms of “what this means to me.” Remember, the Bible means

what it means.

Second, to avoid deriving a strictly individual interpretation of a biblical passage, ask yourself how you

might apply the passage differently if you interpret it in corporate terms, rather than in individual terms. Practice asking, “How does this passage apply to God’s people?” Proverbs 22:6 reminds us: “Train up a child in

the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (kjv). It likely that some readers have trained up their children properly in the Christian pa...

from it. When this verse is read individually (and with the Western value that promises must apply to everyone 100 percent of the time), then we have to conclude ...

properly. If we understand this verse corporately, then perhaps the better application is: if God’s people (corporately) train their children in the Christia...

of Christians to follow after them....

You will not fear the terror of night, nor the

arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you. Is this verse relevant for me? Before you rush to claim it, bear in mind that Jesus didn’t. Satan tried to ...

psalm, especially verses 11-12, and Jesus refused (Lk 4:9-11). How would we determine the appropriate application of ...

It went without being said for the Jewish audience, however, that God forbade seeking guidance from the stars.